Württemberg-Baden was a state of the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

. It was created in 1945 by the United States occupation forces, after the previous states of

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...

and

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...

had been split up between the US and French

occupation zones Germany was already de facto occupied by the Allies from the real fall of Nazi Germany in World War II on 8 May 1945 to the establishment of the East Germany on 7 October 1949. The Allies (United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and France ...

. Its capital was

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

. In 1952, Württemberg-Baden merged with

Württemberg-Hohenzollern Württemberg-Hohenzollern (french: Wurtemberg-Hohenzollern ) was a West German state created in 1945 as part of the French post-World War II occupation zone. Its capital was Tübingen. In 1952, it was merged into the newly founded state of Bad ...

and

into the present state of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

History

Württemberg-Baden consisted of the northern halves of the former states of Württemberg and Baden. The southern border of this part of the US-administered zone was set so that the

autobahn The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track' ...

connecting

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

and

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

(today the A8) was completely contained within the American zone. The three major subdivisions of the American zone (

Greater Hesse Greater Hesse (german: link=no, Groß-Hessen) was the provisional name given for a section of German territory created by the United States military administration in at the end of World War II. It was formed by the Allied Control Council on 19 ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

and Württemberg-Baden) were declared on 19 September 1945. On 24 November 1946, a new constitution was enacted and Württemberg-Baden's first

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

was elected. On 23 May 1949, the state became a founding member of the

. A straw poll was held on 24 September 1950 in Württemberg-Baden,

and

regarding a merger of the three states, followed by a public

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

on 16 December 1951. On both occasions, voters in Württemberg-Baden returned a clear majority in favour of a merger. All three states were merged and the modern German state of

was founded on 25 April 1952.

Politics

The only

minister-president A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. I ...

of Württemberg-Baden was

Reinhold Maier Reinhold Maier (16 October 1889 – 19 August 1971) was a German politician and the leader of the FDP from 1957–1960. From 1946 to 1952 he was Minister President of Württemberg-Baden and then the 1st Minister President of the new s ...

(

DVP DVP may refer to: * ''decessit vita patris'', "died in the lifetime of his father", term used by genealogists to denote a child who pre-deceased his or her father and did not live long enough to inherit the father's title or estate. * Delivery versu ...

, then FDP; 1946–1952). Maier went on to become the first minister-president of Baden-Württemberg upon its formation in 1952. Württemberg-Baden was subdivided into two administrative districts, known as ''Landesbezirke''. The boundaries for these two districts were taken from two former state sections that comprised Württemberg-Baden. These two districts remain largely unchanged today as the

Regierungsbezirk A ' () means "governmental district" and is a type of administrative division in Germany. Four of sixteen ' ( states of Germany) are split into '. Beneath these are rural and urban districts. Saxony has ' (directorate districts) with more res ...

e of

(Württemberg) and

(Baden) within Baden-Württemberg.

Flag and coat of arms

The flag of Württemberg-Baden, adopted in 1947, was the black-red-gold tricolour

flag of Germany The national flag of Germany is a tricolour consisting of three equal horizontal bands displaying the national colours of Germany: black, red, and gold (german: Schwarz-Rot-Gold). The flag was first sighted in 1848 in the German Confederat ...

which was later also adopted again by the new German states founded in 1949, the

and the

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **G ...

. The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

merges elements from the two predecessor states: the red stripe on a golden field of the

coat of arms of Baden The coat of arms of Baden comes from the personal arms of the Margraves and Grand Dukes of Baden, the traditional rulers of the region. Following the revolution and abolition of the Grand Duchy in 1918, the arms and griffin supporters were usu ...

and the three deer antlers of the coat of arms of Württemberg.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wurttemberg-Baden Former states and territories of Baden-Württemberg 1945 establishments in Germany 1952 disestablishments in West Germany

History

Politics

Flag and coat of arms

See also

References